This vegan whipped cream (can also be called a vegan meringue or whipped egg whites) is truly an amazing technique to learn for all kinds of cooking. You will see the slimy mucilage of the linseed (otherwise known as flaxseed) turn into a light fluffy and delicious whipped cream/meringue.

Now I have mentioned before that I am in no way vegan. But as an ardent carnivore, I recognise the importance for all of us to eat less meat products, and I certainly thank every vegan for taking the pressure off the high environmental impact and often cruel meat industry.

I also think it is important for us all to get more from our nuts, seeds and vegetables as the amazing foods that they are. This vegan whipped cream/meringue is a great method to use in all kinds of cooking in place of eggs and cream regardless of whether or not you are vegan or dairy free. And even though the linseeds are cooked it is also a very good method to use in raw recipes.

This recipe provides a product that is slightly different from the thing that it is trying to emulate but equally delicious and certainly as nutritious and more healthy for many who have to avoid dairy or high fat/cholesterol.

You may not know this already, but linseeds have an amazing property – if you soak them in water for a while you will notice the water thickening. This is because linseeds are covered in a mucilage that swells when it comes into contact with water and is designed to provide food and nutrients for the seed as it sprouts.

The mucilage is high in omega-3 forming DHA and contains calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium and phosphorus. The mucilage also consists of a bunch of polysaccarides (long stands of sugars) that are chemically attracted to each other. This is what makes the linseed mucilage pretty much the same consistency as egg white and helps it hold your food together as good as egg white will.

The linseed mucilage does not have the same amount of protein as an egg white – which is the main thing that gives egg white (aka albumen) its structure when whipped. But surprisingly and amazingly the linseed mucilage can be whipped in pretty much the same way as an egg white to make a very similar product – a white airy substance that can be folded into baking.

The mucilage can also act as an amazing binder in cooking much like an egg white. The only real difference is that the whipped linseed mucilage will not really hold shape when heated. So the reference to meringue is in terms of an uncooked meringue. But add a little vanilla essence and sugar and I promise you that you will have a perfectly delicious and light vegan whipped cream.

Here is the method for vegan whipped cream/meringue:

Add 9 times the volume of water to linseeds (for example add 3 cups of water to 1/3 cup of linseed) – you can also use chia seeds for this, although they are more expensive and harder to separate from the mucilage.

Simmer on a low heat for about 10-15 minutes until it has lost 1/3 of its volume.

I have experimented just soaking linseeds in water for a couple of hours for those people who want to use this in raw recipes and are bothered by the cooking process (although very little nutrients are lost in this case). It is possible but you get far less mucilage from your linseeds. So you would add a water/linseed ratio of about 1:1 and even then you won’t get that much mucilage in the end result. But it is possible!

Strain through a sieve and leave for a couple of minutes so most of the mucilage strains off from the linseeds. At this stage you should be left with a slightly brown see through slimy ingredient. This is the mucilage.

Now start whipping the linseed mucilage. You really really need an electric beater for this. Trust me, I tried using a hand held beater the first time I tried this and it took me an hour and half of beating to get half way to the end result before I gave up. With an electric beater you will need to beat for about 25 minutes. This will be quicker if you have a powerful beater.

By the end the mucilage will look much like whipped egg and have a soft peak. You can whip it another 5-10 minutes for a hard peak.

Add a litte sugar and vanilla essence for a taste of whipped cream. Icing sugar will give you the most authentic taste, but I like to use coconut sugar which darkens the colour a little.

The vegan whipped cream (or meringue) can be kept in the fridge for up to a week. It will need whipping again for about 5 minutes to bring it back to the right consistency if you have put in into the fridge.

And a final tip for fussy people is not to taste the vegan whipped cream until it has reached a soft peak. Before this point it will have a slight slimy texture. But once it is done, I assure you, that this will be gone.

And there you have it, a super nutritious, fat-free vegan whipped cream that can be used to replace whipped egg whites in many recipes to give air to baking and help hold it together. I love using it in raw recipes to give some structure and lift to uncooked, wheat free desserts.

Thank you for the nice science explanation.
If you want to get a stiff foam you can use for Macarons, Meringue and shorten the time you have to cool it down nearly to the freezing point. In fact the mass can also be frozen. Only then start beating it up for 8 to 10 minutes.
Greetings
Anna

Thanks Anna : ) I will give your cooling method a go next time I make the vegan meringue. Sounds like a brilliant idea! I have since bought myself a proper bowl mixer and it only takes about ten minutes with one of these. They sure are worth the investment if you do a lot of baking.

I’m sorry, I didn’t quite understand. How exactly would you be able to use it for macarons? Do you have to let the gel freeze and then beat it for 8 or so minutes and add in the whisked almond meal and powdered sugar?

Hello Mary, that is a good question. Having not tried this method yet I am in the dark also. However, my advice would be to cool the linseed goop down to near freezing and then whipping it into as stiff a peak as you can manage (this may take longer than 8 minutes). Then I would add a sweetener (probably liquid i.e. coconut nectar or something), ground almonds, some natural colouring (beetroot/spinach juice or acai powder) and maybe a little ground linseed which will help bind the mixture as you dehydrate it.

Hope that helps a little? We may try a macaron recipe like this and post it on our blog at some point, so follow us on Facebook to keep up with the latest posts if you wish : ) https://www.facebook.com/roarfoodnz

Hello I am trying to make this merengue but I used golden linseed/ Flaxseed and it is not working for some reason. I see you use brown. Do you think this is why my merengue is not working?
I froze it to and tried but it just is whipping and staying slimy???

The fact that you are using golden linseed shouldn’t matter. Make sure you are using an electric beater or kitchen hand to beat the mixture. A food processor or blender won’t work. And hand beating it next to impossible – trust me I have tried!

You can also try boiling the slimy mixture down a little bit more to thicken it slightly. Adding a little sugar (coconut sugar is fine too if you want a healthier version) will also help build the structure of bubbles. I have not tried freezing the mixture personally so I am not sure if this is helpful or not. The main thing is to make sure the gloopy mixture is thicker than egg white, closer to the consistency of jelly before you start whipping. It will get thicker the longer you boil it for.

Hope this helps? Please let us know how you get on, as it seems as though this recipe can be quite tricky for people, so it is always good to get more info on troubleshooting.

Help! The mixture won’t go past a slimly texture. The top is bubbly but the rest is still very runny. Should I be almost freezing it before whipping? & I’m using a food processor or blender. As it warms the mixture up will this effect it?
Thanks a mill for your reply 🙂

You will have to use a kitchen hand or electric beater to whip the mixture properly. A blender or food processor will just do exactly what you have explained and only slightly aerate the mixture (have you ever tried to whip eggs with these machines?). In fact the blender and food processor will actually cut the mixture and likely make it less likely to be able to form bubbles because of the blades.

A kitchen hand (or bowl beater) is the best way to get results as they are the most powerful. But an electric hand beater does work – it will just take quite a while (approx 25 min of beating).

Hello i mixed my flaxseed gel to make meringue, it fluffed up to a stiff peak but as i was adding the powdered sugar and egg replacer the mixure became flat. I tried freezing it and leave on the fridge the next day but it won’t even whip anymore. I really want to make this again and i am not sure what to do or what went wrong.

Yeah the mixture is not the most stable. If you are wanting to make a vegan meringue I would strongly suggest you try making “aquafaba” i.e. whipped chickpea brine. This is much more stable for meringue and you can actually bake it into a stiff meringue too! Just whip the strained brine from canned chickpeas for approx 5 min and add sugar (or other sweetener) to taste.

I already tried it with the chickpea water (Aquafaba) and it worked on my first try but as I tried it the second and third time for some reason it melts while i baked it in the oven ( It’s weird because I did the same exact thing by baking it on the same temperature as i did on my first try and it turn out just fine) or it didn’t turn into the thick consistency as it did before no matter how long i mixed it (i mixed it for 35 mins). Since that failed I wanted to try a different way to make a meringue so I followed this YouTube recipe and this lady made meringues out of Flax seeds gel. She even made 3 different kinds of meringue recipe videos. The thing is she made it on a stand mixer and i mixed my flaxseeds gel on a hand mixer. You think that’s why it didn’t work? What could of caused both my agauafaba to melt in the oven when baking and what could of caused my whipped flaxsseds gel to melt when adding powdered sugar and egg replacer? Here’s the video of the lady who did the flaxseeds gel meringue recipes that i was talking about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DtqK6inKcQ&t=37s

Mmm that is a tough one as there are so many variables. Did you use the same brand of chickpeas both times? Perhaps the salt/protein content was different? Other variable that could have effected your aquafaba is the temperature of the chickpea brine (it should be room temperature when you whip it).

With the flaxseed mixture, you could try reducing the goop a bit (by boiling it for a few minutes) to make it thicker. Also I do fine a powerful beater is better so a hand mixer may struggle (I have only managed soft peaks with a hand mixer). Also I think it helps have a whisk attachment rather that the beating one as the beating attachment breaks up the muscilage. Hopefully that helps?